The Outer Limits TV series, the 1960's one...love it, hate it, meh ?

[steve2470]

I remember it scaring me silly when I was 5 and crying. I still don't like horror type stuff to this day. Too empathetic/sensitive/scaredy-cat lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)

[warrprayer]

1. loved it

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[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I loved it, along with The Twilight Zone.

But I was a little older, old enough to appreciate and enjoy the scariness without actually being too scared. A few of those shows did creep me out a bit, though.

[texanwitch]

3. It did scare me but I loved it.

I do wonder why parents back then did let us watch it.

It wasn't just Outer Limits.

There was One Step Beyond and Thriller.

Twilight Zone could get a little over the top for kids.

[Brother Buzz]

4. The Twilight Zone was my benchmark

The Outer Limits was good although some episodes were just kinda so-so.

[narnian60]

5. Yes, Twilight Zone was/is the best.

Outer Limits always dragged on too long. Episodes should have been only 1/2 an hour long, but even then, didn't have the creativity of TZ.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Big fan

I loved it as a kid in the 60s. The writing was absolutely outstanding. I also loved Thriller (Stephen King called it the greatest horror anthology series of all-time), the Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, The Invaders, Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and especially Way Out, the most imaginative science fiction/horror series of all time, written and presented by Roald Dahl (the summer replacement series for the Twilight Zone). The episode of The Outer Limits with Michael Ansara as a soldier from the future who comes back into the past as a result of an accident was an inspiration for film The Terminator. This Outer Limits episode was written by Hugo and Nebula award winner Harlan Ellison who also wrote the episode Demon With A Glass Hand.

[texanwitch]

8. The Outer Limits episode that really scared me was the one with Robert Culp.

The one where he was turned into a alien from outer space.

I had nightmares about that.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. That was one of my favorites

"The Architects Of Fear" where scientists chose to transform a human volunteer into a grotesque-looking alien and fake an alien invasion in order to bring humanity together to avert war.

I borrowed that premise for a comedy screenplay when I was in film school at UCLA whereby a super rich man transforms and disguises a handsome but idiotic hustler into an alien-looking creature in the hopes of attracting the attention of his beautiful but asexual granddaughter who is only interested in science, so that she gives him an heir.

Another great episode starring Robert Culp was the award-winning "Demon With A Glass Hand" written by Harlan Ellison.

[texanwitch]

18. I think it was the giving of the shots that freaked me out.

I never liked needles, sure didn't after watching that show.

The show was scary without any special effects.

It was sort of like radio on tv, your mind took over.

[Hotler]

7. I was around 8 and it scared the shit out of me.

I could not stop watching it. I would sit in a corner with a blanket around me with just a little opening watch it.

[bif]

14. Similar experience here

I would sit at the opposite end of the room and would close my eyes and plug my ears during the scary parts of the show.

[texanwitch]

17. I had a special teddy bear that kept away the monsters and scary things.

It did work.

Those old shows did leave a mark on us.

We still remember them.

[HipChick]

9. Aww man...that's my show..

I love that series

[texanwitch]

10. A doc about the Outer Limits.

[edbermac]

11. Twilight Zone was better, but I loved the intro.

I could come up with a few dozen TZ episodes but am hard pressed to recall one TOL episode.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. The Outer Limits was almost purely science fiction

which was very appealing to this young science fiction nerd in the 1960s. The Twilight Zone involved very little science fiction and was mostly dark fantasy (like mannequins come to life, gremlins on airplane wings, hitchhikers who follow lonely women around, harried businessmen who board trains back into the less stressful 1890s, etc.). I thought both were extremely well-written and well-acted but they were pursuing different genres. I absolutely loved The Twilight Zone but I thought quite frankly that its sister summer replacement series Way Out written and presented by another Rod Serling-like creator in Rouald Dahl was superior in imagination and daring.

[spiderpig]

12. I really liked the Showtime version from the 90s

Same bleak feel and ambiguous endings.

Although I have a funny story (I think) from the original 60s broadcast. It was the ep where Robert Culp was turned into a mutant and shot into space - in hopes that when he landed on Earth the warring nations would unify under a common threat.

So my family is watching this broadcast in Cleveland (insert laugh here). Culp's spacecraft lands in a swamp or bayou or something - just a couple of fisherman hanging out. There's a shot of a bunch of reeds parting and then...

The local affiliate inserted a card reading "This scene has been deleted". My dad & all the neighbors were in the front yards screaming bloody murder.

The station ran the horrifying deleted scene (Culp in a fright mask) during the 11 pm news, saying they felt the visual was too disturbing for young viewers at 8pm. Our family was laughing our butts off.

[walkerbait41]

13. Love it

[Rowdyboy]

15. Favorite shows as a pre-teen were The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond....

My ghoulish side appeared early and has remained with me ever since.

[DFW]

20. I used to like that series a lot.

Of course, I was ten or so when it came out. Much more mature perspective, you understand......

[murpheeslaw]

21. Any One Remember The Night Gallery? (another Rod Serling show)

A couple of those episodes STILL make me shiver. The one called "The Doll" I think (I scared my sister into hysterics with just a smile after that one . . .) And one about a gold lapel pin that wasn't really a pin . . .

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

23. Wow, that doll with teeth and black circles around its eyes

was one of the scariest things I've ever seen on TV. The only scary TV episode that compares to it for chills was "The Hungry Glass" episode on Thriller where old crones living in the mirrors of an old house come out and try to drag people back into their mirror world, starring William Shatner 5 years before Star Trek (written by Robert Bloch who also wrote the story of Psycho).

[Taverner]

22. Good to meh to bad to good

TZ set a watermark that few reached

But it was fun watching them try